Never Die Villain

"Sigh."

After parting ways with Ilya, Solenne let out a long sigh as she continued down the academy path.

Between looking further into Professor Antoine’s personal loan and now tracing the origin of rumors that had been circulating through the academy for months, she certainly had her work cut out for her.

"I really am making myself busier, huh?"

To begin with, Solenne had always been a busy woman.

Between her studies, the responsibilities she already handled for her family, and the countless connections she was expected to maintain as the heir of the Vernet Mercantile Consortium, her schedule had never exactly been empty, yet now that she had formed a connection with Ilya, it seemed she had willingly piled even more work onto herself.

"But if it’s for the Consortium..."

Solenne glanced down at the notebook tucked in her arm.

Establishing a connection with Ilya was worth far more than the inconvenience.

The Vernet Consortium had dealings with virtually every Grand Duchy on the continent, yet the North remained the one stubborn exception, and if Solenne could eventually change that through the Grand Duke’s son, then a little extra work now was a laughably small price to pay.

She wanted the Consortium to reach even the North.

She wanted to expand it until there was no corner of the continent beyond their influence, until even the proudest nobles had no choice but to acknowledge the Vernet name.

Most of all, she never wanted her family to suffer the kind of humiliation her grandparents had once endured simply because merchants were expected to lower their heads before those who happened to possess a title.

"Never again..."

For that, Solenne was willing to do anything.

As she stepped out of the campus grounds, Solenne slowed to a stop when she noticed someone waiting near the entrance.

The man seemed to have been expecting her, and as soon as she approached, he greeted her.

"Ms. Vernet."

"Hm? Ah, Mikhail."

It was someone she recognized, Mikhail Olegovich Volnograd, a northerner and, from what she knew, a distant relative of Ilya’s.

Most students hailing from the North tended to keep to themselves at the academy, and even among one another, there was hardly any sense that they were particularly close just because they came from the same region.

Mikhail was much the same, rarely associating with Ilya despite the familial connection between their houses.

The Volnograds themselves, however, were by no means insignificant. They were an established northern house with considerable standing under the Grand Duchy, and Mikhail’s father was important enough to attend the Winter Assembly alongside the heads of the other northern houses.

Naturally, that still placed Mikhail far below Ilya in the North’s hierarchy, considering Ilya belonged to the Belozersky main family itself.

To Solenne, the Volnograd name was one worth remembering and maintaining a relationship with, even if her attention had always been drawn far more strongly toward the Grand Duchy at the very top.

Still, there had to be a reason Mikhail was waiting specifically for her.

"What can I do for you, Mikhail?"

"So, Cousin Ilya really is in the Magic Department now?"

"That’s right...?"

"Are you close?"

"...We’re getting there." Solenne tilted her head. "I wouldn’t exactly call knowing someone for two weeks close, but yes, we’ve gotten along well enough."

"Then it would be best if you didn’t get too close to him."

"Ah."

Solenne chuckled.

This was almost too easy. She had only just agreed to find out who might have something against Ilya, and before she had even left the academy, one of his own relatives had appeared in front of her and warned her to stay away from him.

Still, it was best not to jump to conclusions and pry a little further first.

In fact, one of the reasons Solenne had found it relatively easy to approach Ilya in the first place was because she already had some practice dealing with a certain northerner, Mikhail himself.

Of the prominent families in the North, the Volnograds were among the easiest for outsiders to deal with, largely because they were far less opposed to foreign influence than many of their more rigid counterparts.

Solenne had spoken with Mikhail enough times to understand that much about him, which made his warning all the more interesting.

He had never struck her as someone who would blindly repeat the North’s usual prejudices, nor was he normally the type to concern himself with whom she chose to associate with.

So naturally, she smiled.

"Why?"

"He’ll ruin you."

"...."

"That person... it’s like he’s cursed..."

Mikhail’s expression remained serious, without even the slightest hint that he was exaggerating for effect.

"Everything he touches eventually gets ruined. If I had to make a comparison, then Cousin Ilya is like the abyss. Get too close, and eventually, you’ll sink along with him."

"...."

Solenne remained silent, although the smile on her face never disappeared. It was certainly a harsh way to describe one’s own relative, especially when Mikhail had approached her specifically to give that warning.

"Those are some strong words." Solenne tilted her head. "Did he do something to you?"

"Not to me personally."

"Then to someone you know?"

"No."

"Hmm." Solenne brought a finger to her cheek. "Then you’ll have to forgive me for being confused, Mikhail. You came all the way here to warn me that Ilya will ruin me, but so far, you haven’t actually told me anything he’s done."

"You don’t understand how things are in the North."

"Then explain them to me."

"...."

Solenne waited patiently.

If Mikhail had expected her to simply accept his warning because he was a northerner and Ilya’s relative, then he had chosen the wrong person. If anything, every vague accusation only made her more interested in finding out exactly where this hostility toward Ilya had come from.

Mikhail eventually sighed.

"You’ve only known him for two weeks, so of course you wouldn’t understand." He looked back toward the academy grounds. "Ask around about him if you want. Ask what happened to the people who stayed close to him, or why so many people in the North would rather pretend he doesn’t exist."

"Is that what you do?"

"...."

"Pretend he doesn’t exist?"

"...When possible."

Solenne’s smile widened.

How interesting.

But this was also the most difficult part of being a merchant.

Every connection had a value, and knowing which ones were worth investing in, which should merely be maintained, and which could be sacrificed when interests inevitably came into conflict was something Solenne had been taught from the moment she was old enough to understand the Vernet name.

On one side was Mikhail Olegovich Volnograd, the prized son of the Volnograds and a respectable student within the Knight Department.

His family held considerable standing in the North, his father was one of its prominent heads, and unlike many northern houses, the Volnograds were relatively receptive toward foreign influence, which made them one of the few doors through which the Vernet Consortium could realistically establish a stronger foothold there.

Then there was Ilya Valentinovich Belozersky.

The bastard son of the Northern Grand Duchy, with no inheritance waiting for him, a questionable reputation that followed him throughout the academy, and a family that had clearly abandoned him.

He had even left the Knight Department despite being born into the greatest family of swordsmen in the Empire, only to become a First Circle wizard in a department where he had years of education to catch up on.

On paper, there wasn’t much to compare.

"Hee-hee."

Any merchant looking only at what stood in front of them would choose Mikhail.

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